Hi, I did this exam paper and I annoyingly wrote about extract A being from the Elizabethan Period and how this compares to Wyatt in terms of the exploration of the heart being fundamental to this time. Only at the end of the exam when we were told to stop writing did I understand the date referred to was the Restoration and not the Elizabethan period. =( If I had only realised this I may have talked about the issue of cross-dressing and women on stage. Pffft, I thought it went well until until I realised this. How many marks do you think would normally be taken off for mistakes on historical context? >.<

Can I just put in a plea for you all to stop worrying? All of you are listing mistakes which are keeping you up at night and asking for reassurance. Firstly, it's unlikely that any of the mistakes you have listed will invalidate the entire exam paper. That's not how the mark schemes work - there aren't traps set for the unwary to fall into so that they are inevitably going to fail. You will be rewarded for the good things you DO write.

Secondly, no one can give you an accurate idea of what grade you're going to get, because no one's seen what you've written, and even if they did, as none of them are examiners, they don't have the experience to tell you anything much. I'm not an examiner for this subject, but I have taught A level Lit for 23 years and I can't tell you without seeing what you've put.

Thirdly, there's a very real danger of fueling collective hysteria which helps no one. The possible pool of wider reading is infinitely deep. There are some popular choices for wider reading amongst teachers which are recommended for the simple reason that we've got them in the stock room hanging over from previous syllabuses, but that doesn't make them any more valid than other texts. It's what you do with them that matters. Likewise, there are almost as many different links to be made as there are candidates. That's the beauty of Literature, as well as the reason why people of a more scientific turn of mind find it frustrating. So just because you didn't get a link that someone here has posted, it doesn't mean that you are wrong.

I completely understand that you are under enormous strain here. I see it first hand, working in a very high pressure school, and also having been a parent going through it from that point of view too. I understand the need to re-evaluate your experience - it's how human beings learn. However, I would suggest being kind to yourselves and stepping away from the overthinking. Leave TSR for a bit because it's only going to make you feel worse, if you are prone to fretting. You cannot live in a state of fever pitch all the way to results day and in any case, many of you will still have other exams. Things usually have a way of working out, which is hard to see when you are this close to it. If you've been conscientious over 2 years, it will pay off. Please don't make yourselves ill.

(Original post by sarah5893)
did anyone else do this exam in January and if so how do you think it compares?

We used the January paper for our mock - I thought it was around the same tbh! I didn't do much revision for my mock as I was making notes etc for other subjects too, and I'd done the poem Larkin's Wild Oats in class, so it made it slightly easier haha, but I got an A. It was Lovelace's poem 'The Scrutiny', and I think it was comparing Antony and Cleopatra but I can't remember the novel! x

(Original post by carnationlilyrose)
Can I just put in a plea for you all to stop worrying? All of you are listing mistakes which are keeping you up at night and asking for reassurance. Firstly, it's unlikely that any of the mistakes you have listed will invalidate the entire exam paper. That's not how the mark schemes work - there aren't traps set for the unwary to fall into so that they are inevitably going to fail. You will be rewarded for the good things you DO write.

Secondly, no one can give you an accurate idea of what grade you're going to get, because no one's seen what you've written, and even if they did, as none of them are examiners, they don't have the experience to tell you anything much. I'm not an examiner for this subject, but I have taught A level Lit for 23 years and I can't tell you without seeing what you've put.

Thirdly, there's a very real danger of fueling collective hysteria which helps no one. The possible pool of wider reading is infinitely deep. There are some popular choices for wider reading amongst teachers which are recommended for the simple reason that we've got them in the stock room hanging over from previous syllabuses, but that doesn't make them any more valid than other texts. It's what you do with them that matters. Likewise, there are almost as many different links to be made as there are candidates. That's the beauty of Literature, as well as the reason why people of a more scientific turn of mind find it frustrating. So just because you didn't get a link that someone here has posted, it doesn't mean that you are wrong.

I completely understand that you are under enormous strain here. I see it first hand, working in a very high pressure school, and also having been a parent going through it from that point of view too. I understand the need to re-evaluate your experience - it's how human beings learn. However, I would suggest being kind to yourselves and stepping away from the overthinking. Leave TSR for a bit because it's only going to make you feel worse, if you are prone to fretting. You cannot live in a state of fever pitch all the way to results day and in any case, many of you will still have other exams. Things usually have a way of working out, which is hard to see when you are this close to it. If you've been conscientious over 2 years, it will pay off. Please don't make yourselves ill.

Good luck with the rest of the summer!

Thank you. Well said.
I just spotted that the film adaptation of J.M. Coetzee's "Disgrace" is on TV this week and it reminded me of my exam again ("Disgrace" was the prose extract) and brought it all bubbling up to the surface again. But I will try not to worry and to keep things in perspective. And get on with revising for my two exams this week.

(Original post by erin18)
After doing the exam I thought it went really well... Until tonight when I thought about question two only to realise that after thinking I'd already written about a prose wrote about two dramas instead so I do not have all three genres in question two!!
Does anyone have any idea of how much I will be penalised for this?

Me too, I completely forgot to include all three genres. I obviously used prose whilst writing the first question however i mainly focused on using poems in the second that i totally forgot about using a drama extract.
I'm not sure if this is right but my teacher told me I would get roughly 33% of my final mark deducted. Ergh!

Today is Results Day. How did everyone fare in this exam? After I read all the comments on this thread (back in June) I burst out crying. I've been crying for the past two months. I didn't think I would get the grades after having looked at other poeple's responses. But today, by some miracle, I found out that I had scored 97% (117/120) in 'Love Through The Ages' paper and 85% (68/80) in the coursework unit, giving me an A* overall. I'm truely shocked, but I know I did work hard for it. I did the entire AS and A2 in 6 months. I should add that my coursework mark was severely downgraded, I don't know why... teachers gave me full marks in it.

Anyway, I hope everyone on this forum achieved the grades and marks they wanted. It looks like the exam board might have been very generous with the grade boundaries (I'm guessing- I didn't think my exam went as well as it could have).

Well done everyone and good luck with everything in the future! Hopefully I'll never have to sit an exam as brutal as this ever again

(Original post by whiteblankpage10)
I was so happy! and I'm so glad I did, otherwise I wouldn't have got into uni..they wanted 3 A's, and I got A*, A, B, B, but cos I'm doing Lit at Uni they let me in anyways

HAPPINESS.

*because I got my A* in English Lit. Got full marks coursework as well sufbzcms, nz`sc

(Original post by Pthaos)
Well done all. I think I did mess this up a bit, I ended up with a B, when I wanted and needed an A.

But Cardiff Uni accepted me anyway without argument! Huzzah!

Well done! I remember you from the revision study group you set up the day before the exam.

I'd be interested to read the examiner's report for this exam to see what they have to say about candidates and the second question as I thought it was a tricky question (that Wyatt poem still haunts me).

(Original post by Language_student)
Well done! I remember you from the revision study group you set up the day before the exam.

I'd be interested to read the examiner's report for this exam to see what they have to say about candidates and the second question as I thought it was a tricky question (that Wyatt poem still haunts me).

Yeah I remember you Congrats on your A! I'm a bit annoyed with myself for dropping just a few marks to a B, but I'm in to where I want to go anyway which is such a relief.

I would say I wanted to see the report, but frankly I want to forget it ever happened now it's over.